A Minute's Difference

It was a Tuesday, 2:58...59 in the afternoon. My friend Andy was white-knuckled gripping the edge of his school desk, staring desperately at the second hand of the clock slooowly circling round, while our teacher droned on and on. A girl behind me cracked her gum. Another classmate was fervently scribbling notes. I was trying to look just awake enough not to get called on. Wrapped in my grey hoodie, eyes drooping behind uncut bangs, head leaning on folded arms, I appeared the cliche of a bored teenage boy, on the verge of daydreaming his way into a more exciting life.

My mind wandered, and I found myself thinking about it again.

I had been thinking about it for a long time. Weeks, months, years perhaps...

The same story played out...

.........

Dollar bills were floating in the air, escaping from the sloppily half-zipped duffel bag of the bank robber, as he ran - or rather, zapped and zoomed - away from the team of costumed heroes behind him.

"You won't get away with this villain!" their leader declared.

The villain laughed evilly, yet full of merriment, enjoying the lively pursuit. His half-helmet seemed an intentional choice, to show off his garish grin. Beside him was a young boy in a matching outfit, who used the same electric blasts to boost his speed. He stayed quiet, face entirely hidden.

The team chasing behind the pair were an odd bunch themselves - a man with prickly skin and jagged spikes protruding from his head, a woman gliding on ghostly spiraled limbs, her twin brother who was dressed like he'd jumped from an adventure novel and swung a lasso getting ready to throw, all tailed by their personal cameraman to document the action. While on the move, they chatted amongst each other in amused banter:

"What's with the shrimpy side-kick?"

"Must be take-your-kid-to-work day."

"Aren't there child labor laws against this?"

"What, you expect a villain to care about pesky laws?"

But their Captain was taking this chase very seriously. "Come on team, pick up the pace. Today, we change the course of history!"

Villain and sidekick - father and son - zig zagged through alleyways like speed skaters, gliding on electric blades. But turning the last corner, they were surrounded by brick walls and bags of trash, no way forward. The heroes and their leader came up behind, blocking the way they'd come.

"You've reached a dead end!" he pronounced. But the villain still smirked.

"Wow thanks, Captain Obvious!"

He grit his teeth. "It's Captain Victorious!"

During their noisy exchange, the villain quietly slipped the bag of money to ground, moved the boy behind him, and took a stance between them, drawing the team's attention entirely to himself.

Captain Victorious planted his feet wide apart, hands balled into tight fists. His cape flared out in a breeze that may or may not have actually existed. "You can't win this fight, Electro! There's nowhere left to run. Give up now, turn yourself in, before anyone gets hurt."

"Oh, you won't get rid of me that easily, old champ."

"What are you going to do, take us all at once?"

"Exactly. Unless you can't handle it?"

"Dammit, Hal" he muttered under his breath, and clenched his fist. "Then prepare for a battle you'll never forget!"

The villain Electro only smiled wider. "Bring it on."

The whole team rushed towards him, but he withstood their attacks. The spikey one was immediately punched in the chin and went sprawling. Then there was a rope holding his wrist, but he grabbed it and used the line to fling the man away. A coiling arm wrapped around his neck but he let out a blast of light that blinded her into letting go.

While it would have been enough for the boy to simply hang back, he took the initiative to slip the duffel bag over his shoulder and found a fire escape to shimmy up, where he could be removed from the fray but have the perfect view.

Spike bristled with anger. After being cast aside, what hurt most was his pride. While everyone else continued to engage the villain, he spotted the boy sitting on the rooftop, just watching. Sidekick wasn't participating in the fight, but that's when Spike had a new strategy - what if he could be used as a bargaining chip? Grab the kid, villain surrenders, and the fight would be over.

Sneaking up the ladder, he moved stealthily closer to the boy, who was crouched at the edge of the rooftop, seemingly in rapt attention on the fight. Spike's fingers grew slowly into sharp claws, that he could hold against the child's throat, in a threat that would force the villain to submit.

What he couldn't see was the boy's eyes looking back, anticipating his next move. Toes edging back, ready to shift that crouch into a bounce. And at the moment the claws swiped down, he grabbed the hand that meant to grip him, flexed his knees and rotated his arms, swinging the grown man over his head and shoulders to slam hard against the wall below, while releasing all his pent-up energy in an electric shock that landed with the overwhelming CRACK! of a lightning strike in a ferocious storm.

Each of the team members felt the impact in the ground, in their bones, and saw their comrade collapse in a smoking heap on the ground. Spira was the first to leap towards his limp body, screaming. He was moving, barely, as she cradled him in her arms, felt for signs of life. The others approached to help. The villain stepped back, making his way to the ladder, to his son's side.

With Spike's head in her lap, Spira continued to wail, a sound that seemed to conjure ghosts from the ground, beg help from the sky. It was unclear if these magic mists were a reaction to mourning or an attempt at a healing, probably both. She glanced up suddenly, her shriek a piercing blade, and from a crack in the boy's helmet, an eerie wide eye stared back at them.

What the heroes saw was a boy who stood in icy silence, a cold and unfeeling lack of reaction. Blood dripping from his hands unnoticed, where Spike's needles had punctured through the suit at the moment of impact. But his father could see the faint tremors of terror, that he was frozen in shock. The boy stared at his bleeding hands, trying to understand, frightened by what they were capable of. His fingers shook. This isn't what was supposed to happen. Their happy romp had become a terrible nightmare he couldn't wake from. He had only wanted to win, not cause this madness. If only he could go back, if only he could change what he had done. Take it back!

.........

Then this thought burst into my mind, reverberating like a thunderclap: Can one person, one moment, make all the difference? If a single act of mayhem might ruin everything, what about an act of good? Is it possible to redeem the past by forging a brighter future? Could I make a choice, and...

.........

The scene paused, rewound, and replayed, as if recorded on a VHS tape. The boy sat on the rooftop. The supposed hero snuck up, and made as if to grab him. The boy's eyes looked back. The man's claws moved forward, and the boy lifted his hand in reflex. Except, each of their wrists were grabbed by another figure who wedged himself between them. "You can stop now."

A young man who was costumed like them, who wore no mask, with a casual air, yet commanded attention. He turned to the supposed hero first. "Don't dishonor our cause, going after a child whose father took steps to protect him, who has removed himself from the fight. And don't underestimate him either, he's more powerful than you know." His frown turned soft when he looked at the boy. "And you... don't have to do this. Proving your might, competing to be the most powerful, will only hurt those around you, and yourself. It doesn't have to be a weapon, wielded against enemies. There is another way."

Both were annoyed at the interruption.

"But who are you?" "Yeah!"

The young hero grinned broadly, "Well that's easy, I'm - "

Briiiiinnng!

.........

Chad jumped in his seat, as the 3pm bell rang to end school. He was dazed, in awe over this revelation. Though the vision was obscured, he was pretty sure he'd recognized the hero in his dream. But wearing a bigger smile than he'd known for a long time. I could be that difference.

"I've finally figured out what to do next," he declared.

Andy elbowed him jokingly. "After school today? Because I've spotted this new ramen place we should really check out. But then again, nothing can beat burgers..."

"No, not just today - for the rest of my life."